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Jessica Adams
Dr. Jessica Adams was a major character on House during the last season of the series. She was the last member to join House's Diagnostic Team. Originally, she was a prison doctor who appeared in the season premiere of the eighth season. She worked at the prison where Gregory House was jailed after he crashes his car into Cuddy's living room. She met House in the episode Twenty Vicodin, and from there, they shared a special relationship. She joined House's Diagnostic Team in the third episode of season 8. She worked with the new team consisting of Dr. Park, Dr. Taub and Dr. Chase. After House's "fake death", she's present during his funeral, and after that, she stays in the team, only with Park and Taub, under Chase who became the new Head of Diagnostics. She was portrayed by Odette Annable. Character Background Adams was born to a wealthy family sometime in the mid-1980s. Her family is "old money" - her ancestors have lived in the United States most likely since the days of the Revolutionary War and gained their wealth while the United States was a British colony. She shares a surname with the 2nd and 6th presidents of the United States and it is implied she is from the same family. She wears an old locket that House correctly pegged as being handed down through the generations and, since it's very expensive, that her family must have been wealthy. Although she had loving dedicated parents who avoided the family dysfunction and infidelities typical of their generation and income group, in her junior year of high school she ran away from home in the mistaken belief that dysfunctional families (like the ones of her friends with divorced or adulterous parents) were somehow "deeper". However, after living with an older man for two months, she returned home. Although her grades had been good to that point, after returning, she completed her junior and senior years with straight A's and continued her studious ways into college. After completing medical school and her internship, she served her residency at Johns Hopkins Medical School. She wears her Osler scarf on Fridays as per their tradition. It was never revealed where Adams went to college or medical school, or what her medical specialty was. Sometime during this time, she got married. However, the marriage got off to a rocky start after her husband had an affair with a woman he met on the flight to their honeymoon destination. By the time she meets House she is separated from him and she finalizes the divorce just before she starts working for House. Personal Characteristics Despite being unemployed or underemployed throughout the series, Adams has no money problems and constantly shops for expensive goods. She wears a new pair of designer shoes every day, but avoids leather because she believes that it is exploitative of animals. She drives a brand new car with the latest road handling technologies while her peer Chi Park and her boss drive broken down automobiles in constant need of repair. She enjoys using firearms and has expert level skills in skeet shooting. However, she is fundamentally opposed to violence or the use of guns for hunting or self-defense. Despite her moneyed background and being a board certified specialist, her jobs have generally been in general medicine for individuals who have trouble obtaining medical care, such as prisons and free clinics. It is clear that she believes most disadvantaged people are more likely to be victims of circumstance than any personal character fault. Odette Annable described her own character as very funny and enthusiastic. She believes in redemption and second chances. This leads to some conflict with Chi Park, who believes people are responsible for their own circumstances and that charity is less important than the interests of one's family. She also thinks kangaroos are "so cute". On the other hand, Hugh Laurie said "She's someone in the system who could turn into a potential ally". On The Series Adams meets House while working at the prison infirmary. She comes up with a preliminary diagnosis of gonnorhea after examining Nick and House can't help but be sarcastic about it. Dr. Sykes tells Adams that House used to be a doctor and they get into a debate of House's diagnosis of lupus. House expresses some trepidation when he realizes that Adams can "write him up" for his behavior, ruining his parole, but she reassures him she won't. However, she starts taking him seriously when he comes back with proof that Nick has some sort of anomaly in his thorax that House found with just percussion and no stethoscope.She expresses some disbelief that she will do exactly what House says, but House points out that she always looks bored and the only time she hasn't was when they were talking about Nick's case. She also finds out about his prior reputation as a leading diagnostician. When House expresses that he intends to entirely leave medicine, Adams tells him he has a gift that he can't abandon. They start working together, but the relationship breaks down when Adams realizes House has misled her about why he's in prison. She does more research and finds that he accepted prison time when he didn't have to and figures he was just trying to punish himself. She also tries to get him out of trouble with Mendelson by providing House with Vicodin for the "exit tax". However, when he uses it as a diversion to get back to the clinic to do one more test, she does the test herself. It confirm's House's final diagnosis of Mastocytosis, but gets her fired and House sentenced to more time in prison. Once House is released, he contacts Adams, lies about only wanting to talk to her, gets her to work for free on his cases, and entices her with a promise to hire her once he gets funding for his department. He realizes that she hasn't found regular work yet and, in her free time, hangs around with House and Park to help out. She often complains about the way she's treated and when House threatens to fire her, she keeps reminding him he hasn't hired her yet. For his part, Foreman tolerates her being around and doing procedures. House finally gets funding for his department, partly by getting a loan from her to speculate in the stock of his patient's company. She also covers for him when he steals a piece of hospital equipment to raise money for his speculations (despite Foreman's warning that this won't be the last time). In return, she demands that he do more clinic duty and, when Foreman punishes House, he ups it again. She is introduced to Taub and Chase. She generally gets along well with them, but Chase tries to help out House by asking her about her parents and how they "screwed her up". However, Adams catches on. House does have problems with Adams. She's the one who reveals that the patient House wants to diagnose in Dead & Buried was already dead. When an underage patient is being treated, she contacts social services in spite of House's instructions not to. When treating a patient who prefers a mystical cure, she goes against House's orders and treats the patient, who recovers and believes the mystical cure was the reason. She shows interest in Chase even asking him out in We Need the Eggs, but Chase refused her advances. After House is presumed dead, Adams gives a eulogy thanking him for giving her the courage to get fired. Afterwards, Adams stays on at diagnostics, working under Chase. Rivalry with Park Adams and Park have a strained and competitive relationship. They disagree on most issues including charity, child labor, altruism, and why people become friends. Adams was not above driving Park crazy by taking advantage of her idiosyncratic behavior of avoiding "owing" people anything (which, ironically, resulted in her unknowingly paying to repair House's car). However, despite their personal differences, they both work well together and each will go out on a limb to support each other's diagnoses and to deal with House (like both pretending to have hepatitis to punish House for stealing their food). This is despite the fact that House often tries to pit them against each other. Appearances Links * Jessica Adams article at Wikipedia * Jessica Adams character page at IMDB * Jessica Adams at Facebook ru:Джессика Адамс Category:Main Characters Category:Doctors Category:Females Category:Characters Category:House's Team Category:Season 8 Category:Featured articles